US Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Baghdad on Saturday for a surprise visit aimed at bolstering Iraq’s fledgling democracy almost four months after an inconclusive election.

Biden, wearing a blue blazer and khaki slacks, was accompanied on the trip by his wife Jill, who the White House said was on her first visit to the war-torn country.

The White House said that the couple was “in Iraq to celebrate the Fourth of July with US troops.”